Batting

Auburn, ME - CM hosted Southern Maine Community College in double-header action Saturday at the Auburn Suburban Complex. In game one, the Mustangs had no answer for Dylan Francoeur, who scattered four hits over his five innings of work before the game ended by 10-run rule. The Seawolves made solid contact and capitalized on three Mustang errors. Nick Powers and Eric Hoogterp both got a pair of hits in the effort.

The home team just could not get untracked. CM ran several pitchers out to the mound and it seemed like whomever the Mustangs put on the hill, the SeaWolves knocked around.

In game two, Central Maine grinded to a 10-9 victory.

The game was tied at nine in the bottom of the seventh when Dalton Wing grounded to the shortstop with Austin Love on second. The throw got away from first, resulting in an throw behind Love at third after rounding the base hard. The attempted pick was wide, and Love scampered home for the Mustangs first walk-off win of the season.

Central Maine collected 10 hits and Seawolves had 11 in the high-scoring affair. Mustangs got things started early when Eric Hoogterp obliterated a fastball to right-center in first inning. Nik Tormans had just singled up the middle, so the strike gave the home team a 2-0 advantage. The Seawolves answered back in the second with four hits, two of them doubles. Sean Adams singled on a 1-0 count to give Southern Maine the lead, 3-2.

The Seawolves extended their lead in the fourth, taking advantage of two misplayed balls in the outfield. Tormans, the Mustangs starter, got two quick outs before the Mustangs allowed two consecutive Seawolves to reach base on errors. A double by Francoeur put an exclamation point on the inning before Dalton Wing came on in relief to retire the side. Tormans surrendered five runs, two earned, on eight hits in the start, striking out three.

After Southern Maine tacked on two in the top of the fifth, the Mustangs bats finally came alive. After a pitching change and two quick outs, CM had a two-out rally that brought them around the order. Aided by a couple booted balls at second and some aggressive baserunning, the Mustangs electrified the night with six hard-earned runs to take the lead 8-7. Jordi Valls,L'Hereux-Carland,Jacob Strout, and Wingall drove in runs in the frameThe sixth inning featured more back-and-forth offense, with Southern Maine tying the game at eight after Francoeur homered after nearly fouling out. The Mustangs manufactured a run when Tormans and Hoogterp began the inning with singles and moved around on a sacrifice fly by Kaden Cutler. Tormans scored the go-ahead run on a groundout by Valls.

In the final frame, the Seawolves tied things up at nine when Peter Stauber tripled on a 3-1 count, scoring one run. This set the stage for the Mustangs thrilling heroics by Love and Wing in the home half of the inning. Wing led Central Maine to victory on the pitcher's mound. He went three and a third innings in relief, allowing four runs on three hits and striking out three in a gutsy performance.

Cole Lawrence took the loss for Seawolves. He went one and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs on three hits, striking out one and walking zero. Tormans, Valls, Austin Love, and Hoogterp all collected multiple hits for the Mustangs. Tormans went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the team in hits.